Name: The Best Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: ⅔ cup sugar; ½ cup orange juice (no sugar added or freshly squeezed); ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon; ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt; 12 oz fresh cranberries

At Ajpal, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Cranberry Orange Thanksgiving Sauce

This easy cranberry sauce combines fresh cranberries, sugar, and orange juice for a delicious, simple, and fresh cranberry sauce that is done in under 15 minutes in just one pot.

If you love canned cranberry sauce, you won’t believe just how easy it is to make your own cranberry sauce at home – simply dump the ingredients in a pot, stir, and cook!

This recipe is a tried and tested classic from our family – we hope you love it as much as we do!

How To Make Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice

Orange juice is the perfect addition to cranberry sauce – it is sweet, just a little tart, and brings a truly festive and delicious kick to pair with the cranberry flavor.

Orange juice is a great way to counteract some of the bitterness in cranberries, while still adding flavor and some sweetness.

I personally prefer to use freshly squeezed orange juice, but you can use your favorite variety.

For even more orange flavor, you can add freshly grated orange zest to the cranberry sauce – it is beautiful and brings a bright, citrusy kick!

Keto Cranberry Sauce:

If you’re sticking to a low carb diet, fruit isn’t something you grab on a regular basis – but with a few simple modifications, this recipe will fit into your keto diet as long as you don’t over-indulge.

Think of this as a holiday treat with no added sugar more than an everyday staple into your diet… just a spoonful will do to bring cranberry flavor to your Thanksgiving dinner.

For the Sugar:

-Swap 1 cup sugar for 1 cup xylitol or swerve

-Swap 1 cup sugar for 2 tsp liquid stevia

For the Orange juice:

-Use a low sugar orange juice or fresh squeezed orange juice

-Use 2 tbsp orange zest and replace orange juice with water.

Tips to Perfect Easy Cranberry Sauce:

Easy cranberry sauce is one of the best parts of Thanksgiving – so I am providing lots of tips and tricks to be sure yours turns out fabulously!

-Add water and sugar first, stir to dissolve sugar in water so it doesn’t burn on bottom of pan.

-Add cranberries after water starts to boil to prevent sticking to bottom of pan.

-If you accidentally over-reduce sauce, add up to ½ cup water to loosen sauce up.

-Let cool completely before serving for thicker sauce.

-Keep over medium heat, stirring occasionally as cranberries start to burst and cook down.

-Serve at room temperature.

How To Store Leftover Cranberry Sauce

Big Thanksgiving dinners often come with lots of leftovers – so I am adding tips on storing homemade cranberry sauce so it’s ready for all of your leftover turkey meals!

-For freezing, I often add cranberry sauce to an ice cube tray for perfect single-serving portions I can pop out and let naturally defrost for meals later in the week.

-To store in the fridge, use a small airtight container and keep no more than four days.